Montauk Music Festival Begins Thursday

Since its inception four years ago, the Montauk Music Festival has maintained a strong focus on the East End community and the local musicians who reside here. For 2013, the Festival has added even more community-based youth performers and programs to the dozens acts performing at venues throughout Montauk from Thursday, May 16 to Sunday, May 19.

More than 100 artists boasting a wide variety of musical styles (from alternative, rock, folk, pop, Americana, reggae, blues, jazz, bluegrass, to flamenco, rap, hip-hop, country, metal, and more) will be performing for free in the spirit of sharing original music with audiences and fellow musicians. In its third year of production, the four-day festival has cultivated an atmosphere of goodwill promoting local charities, connecting Long Island musicians with those from as far away as Vermont and California. Music lovers and performers alike will be flocking to Montauk this weekend.

The business community has welcomed the one-hundred and eighty performances spread throughout the town, set in different intimate venues, each with its own unique flavor, including a two-day showcase stage set on the Village Green. This year, the Festival will feature singer, harpist and multi-instrumentalist Erin Hill, who has had a #1 album on the Billboard world chart and was in the Top 40 on the independent chart.

Hill will be performing from 6–7:30 p.m. on Friday at the Royal Atlantic‘s Last Hope Lagoon in Montauk. The concert will benefit Project Most, an East Hampton-based after school learning and activities program serving the East End. Enjoy great music, tasty vittles and drinks!

Before that, the Festival kicks off with an Opening Night Meet the Musicians Party at Gurney’s Inn on Thursday, May 16. Starting at 8 p.m., guests will enjoy hors d’oeuvres anda 3-hour open bar, while they meet and listen to bands and special guests. The party lasts till 2 a.m. and costs just $35 per person.

Click here for a full schedule by time, or visit themontaukmusicfestival.com for complete Festival info. Watch a video montage of the Montauk Music Festival below, and scroll down for a schedule of youth performers.